All of the incidents happened in communities directly affected by the Bacoor Reclamation and Development Project, which spans 320-hectares along the Manila Bay coastline. The project is composed of two artificial islands, a road network, drainage system, containment structures, storm surge protection, and access ways.
The agriculture department said 18,000 farmers have been affected, and at least 17,000-hectares of crops were destroyed. In Catanduanes alone, local government officials estimated at least P400-million ($8.26-million) damage to the abaca industry and 90 percent of their public infrastructure reduced to rubble.
“That this is being produced amid a repressive regime makes it even more relevant as the media continue to be under attack from those who should protect and uphold press freedom and other basic freedoms.”
The hypocrites in government malign the work of organizers, humanitarian workers, and human rights defenders, vilifying and tagging them as enemies of the state and terrorists. They persecute many who truly work for the betterment of our society.
By TILDE ACUÑA
By TILDE ACUÑA
Both reactions provoke further criticism and even outrage not only from ordinary citizens but even from their fellow officials themselves. No one can blame those who, as a result, end up concluding that regime bureaucrats focus on non-essentials because the administration they’re serving can’t even articulate its own policies and actions.
It seems that time is up for reckoning on the crude, arrogant and irresponsible red-tagging campaign, waged mainly by the military and police at the behest of the National Task Force to End the Local Communist Armed Confict or NTF-ELCAC. Created and nominally headed by President Duterte, the task force is overseen by his national…
By TILDE ACUÑA